To High Treason: American Freedom

Often, I will toast to “High treason!”, all in jest of course. When I do this, I harken back to the fictitious story of the toast to high treason in American Treasure with Nicholas Cage where he tells a story of the “original” toast made by the Founding Fathers. I am though, toasting to a slight change in my lifestyle or a change of plans, nothing life threatening. The real life story of 56 men, by signing the Declaration of Independence, very well knew that this “toast” was high treason, and the sentence would be death by hanging or dismemberment.

These men had the brazen boldness to stand by what they saw as injustice, hoping for freedom. They were hoping for rights that no other country to date ever dreamt to offer, and they won their freedom from tyranny. A ragtag group of common people were able to topple the most powerful nation in the world, and it all started because they saw the need for “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” for “all”.

There were certain rights that took centuries to finally appear in our nation, and it still is not perfect. But we have the right to “pursue happiness“. Whether or not you want to run that race, it is an option that we all have. As great as this nation is, our government can not run that race for you, and it will never be able to provide happiness for you. There is a chance though, that if you run that race, you might wind up with their goal completed.

We are blessed to live in a country where freedom, whether truly appreciated or not, is gloriously in our faces. There will always be ones who fight against freedoms because it doesn’t match their ideology, but that too, is their right. As I often say, “They have the right to be wrong”. Sometimes people don’t understand different cultures and mindsets other than their own. This is fine, that’s why we vote… a right we all have.

As we watch these fireworks go off for the 4th, remember that July 4th was when the document was signed, but it really took another seven years of war for the ideals to be accepted by the king. The treaty, which ended the war, was signed in France, September 3rd, 1783. So save one little “4th of the July” firework for September 3rd this year. That is when we truly had freedom from England.